THE transition is almost seamless, barely perceptible.
New Kingston by day is the capital's conservative financial district handling millions, sometimes billions, of funds.

But at night, it switches - from business to the business of pleasure.
Bankers, diplomats, company executives, real estate dealers, financiers and Jamaica's professional class negotiate deals and transact business from within multi-storey office buildings that look down onto the busy streets of the business metropolis in the day time.
There is strict order to the parking, where allowed, on streets patrolled by cops and gung-ho wrecker and haulage crews.

A night-time view of Knutsford Boulevard.

But as the work day comes to a close, like clockwork, the parking arrangements change, almost imperceptibly, signalling that the other face of New Kingston is coming to life.

The harmony that has emerged is not accidental, but carefully managed by entities like the New Kingston Civic Association (NKCA).
"We have taken on the responsibility to accommodate the entertainment while maintaining an environment conducive to business," NKCA general manager Rachel Gore tells the Sunday Observer.

Gore admits, however, that there are elements of the nightlife that pose peculiar challenges with sanitation and security of property.
For years, New Kingston has had its fair share of entertainment spots, but has always been seen primarily as Kingston's business hub.

Its four million square feet of office space, and its concentration of top businesses, represent the highest priced properties in the Kingston metropolitan area.

At the centre of New Kingston sits Knutsford Boulevard. At the top of Knutsford Boulevard are branches of the island's two biggest banks - National Commercial Bank on the left (looking down the boulevard) and Scotiabank on the right.

Further along, and branching from its side streets, are the much vilified power provider Jamaica Public Service Company, insurance companies, other banks, building societies, telecoms, hotels, eateries, and financial houses, and the most recent addition, a park.
A few feet away, on Trafalgar Road, is The Atrium, NCB's architecturally riveting headquarters. Up the road is the British High Commission.

Observer file photo of a woman surfing the Internet from a New Kingston parking lot. The Hilton Kingston hotel is in the background.

All of this sits on prime real estate.
But for the other side of New Kingston, the night-time crowd, it is not the real estate so much as its centrality in the city that is the pull.
"It's a place where uptown meets downtown," says Gore.

There were no statistics available immediately on New Kingston's population, but it is estimated that at least 5,000 persons party on the strip at nights.

"It is a midway point for people," Gore adds. "Safety plays a great part." Notwithstanding, New Kingston has its share of nefarious nightlife, and there are the odd reports of gun-confrontations and assault. Yet, no one enters the area fearing they will be targeted.

"There is a team working behind the scenes to keep it working," says Gore, adding quickly that the police post across from the Asylum nightclub was placed there as a direct result of efforts by the NKCA.

During the business day, vehicles are parked parallel to the sidewalk along Knutsford Boulevard. But later, as night falls, cars are positioned facing the road to accommodate the influx of night-clubbers wanting their vehicles parked close to the hot spots they visit.
And it is easy enough to tell where those hot spots are just by the concentration of vehicles.

"Everybody wants to park close to where they are going," says Gore.
The next morning, however, there is never an indication that New Kingston had swapped personas.
The NKCA, a group of New Kingston stakeholders with approximately 80 members, has taken on the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the area.

According to Gore, at 3 o'clock every morning, cleaning of the area begins, and by 7:00 am, the streets show no sign of the activities that took place the night before.
This is done, she adds, through an arrangement with the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

"One great problem, however, is that there are no public conveniences in New Kingston and people use anywhere for a urinal," Gore revealed, alluding to the ugly side of the arrangement.

There are four spots, she says, where the problem is at its worst - by the chain link fence opposite the Asylum, the Cable and Wireless box by the Finsac head office, underneath the trees in front of the Quad and in the unfinished building across from the Insurance Company of the West Indies.

"It's something we are working on to get even a portable public urinal, rather than having people use the side of buildings, but it's in the embryonic stage," she adds.

While damage to property has occurred periodically, it is the incidents of hustling, prostitutes, drug addicts and vagrants, that bother visitors and New Kingston property owners the most.
"You have to secure things in New Kingston. Anything that's not tied down will be gone in the morning," says Gore.

"The Anbell glass was broken recently, and Maxie has suffered from this, but it appears that the person responsible was caught," she adds.
Some businesses have learned to take extra precautions.

Keith Daley, of Victoria Mutual Property Services, managers of the Victoria Mutual Building Society building on Knutsford Boulevard, says he has no problems with property damage.
"We have 24-hour security," he said.

The New Kingston district is bound within a relatively small area of the capital, and is a bit choked because of the high demand for commercial space.

Historically, it was known first as Knutsford Park and actually predates Caymanas Park as a horse racing venue.
In the relatively small locale - bordered by Oxford Road to the south, Trafalgar Road to the north, Holburn Road to the west and St Lucia Avenue on its eastern side - is concentrated the highest value real estate in Jamaica.

Rental space along Knutsford Boulevard, according to Andrew Issa, head of Coldwell Banker Realtors, ranges between US$8 to US$16 per square foot per year, plus maintenance charges.

"The maintenance fees will depend on the facilities being offered."
Rental rates in New Kingston, which consists of offices, primarily, is surpassed only by prime retail spaces in places like the Constant Spring Road shopping malls, Issa says.

A valuation of buildings on Knutsford Boulevard, the prime New Kingston spot, would also reveal figures anywhere between $8,000 to $10,000 per square foot.

To own a piece of New Kingston is a real estate boon, and some of Jamaica's top companies have either found a home there or have substantive holdings that they rent.

Major stakeholders include the Hendrikson's Continental Group, owners of the Courtleigh and Knutsford Court hotels, as well as the Island Life building.

Jamaica Properties hold extensive square footage along Knutsford Boulevard, so too does Victoria Mutual Building Society, which has pride of place in front of the median.

Cable & Wireless Pension Fund is now the owner of the Dominica Drive Towers, the New Kingston Shopping Centre and Cinema II, properties all developed by insurance giant Life of Jamaica, which itself still owns a sizable chunk of real estate in the area.
Andrew Pierman of Anbell has his communication business smack in the middle of the high-volume parking area.

Notwithstanding his broken storefront, Pierman does not consider the New Kingston nightlife a detriment to his business.
"There is a time difference - business goes up to six o'clock, then the entertainment comes after," he said.
"It's like that in many large cities in the world."

Anbell's large-screen LED billboard mounted atop the business, has added to the glitz of New Kingston. Soon, it will display the activities that are on offer in the locale.

"We are coming up with a package of what's happening in New Kingston. It will tell everything that's going on here," Pierman says, adding that he plans a launch in the next three to four weeks.

The Tourism Product Development Company TPDCo, meantime, continue to work on plans to transform parts of Knutsford Boulevard into a pedestrian-only venue on specific nights.

The 'Knutsford Nights Projects', says TPDCo executive director Michael Muirhead, is to be the first experiment of a concept that will see tourist resorts setting aside at least one night monthly for pedestrians.

"We wanted to use New Kingston as a model," he tells the Sunday Observer, before moving on to Ocho Rios and other tourist resorts over time.

"We are really focussing on having the hotels send their guests out," he said. A visitor on 'Knutsford Night' would then be able to enjoy outdoor musical entertainment, cafe-style dining and be exposed to Jamaican heritage in various forms.
"The idea is to transform the strip into the place to go for cultural entertainment," said Muirhead.

But, there are still a lot of logistical issues to iron out, Muirhead confesses - nine months after the project was launched - and TPDCo is now in dialogue with a number of agencies, including the National Works Agency and the KSAC, to get the project off the ground.

"We are cognisant of the problems of vagrancy, security, adequate sidewalks, and so on," he now says.
TPDCo will fix the infrastructural deficiencies, but plans to leave the rest to the council. A meeting was to have been held Friday to iron out the details.

Now, TPDCo is working with a new timetable of 12 months to get 'Knutsford Nights' implemented.
"We do not have ultimate control to set deadlines for the various agencies . but we should have everything in place certainly before World Cup (football in July 2006)," he tells the Sunday Observer.

fosterp@jamaicaobserver.com

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